Free Thursday legends - Skinner 10 by Quintin Jardine Page B

'The man was so badly brutalised. The head
injuries didn't kill him though; they were inflicted post-mortem. No, Mr Smith
died of shock; his heart just packed in. I took a very careful look at the
video the sicko made of the killing, and I could see the moment when it
happened. If you take another look you'll see it too.'
    He
winced. 'I promise you this, my darling girl, I will never look
at that video again.'
    'By
the way, I discovered how he was overpowered. He was—'
    The
telephone rang out, interrupting her. Bob stepped quickly into their bedroom
and answered, before Seonaid could be disturbed. 'Skinner.'
    'Bob,
it's Andy. Sorry to disturb you yet again, but what a bloody day I've had! As
if the late call last night about Alec Smith wasn't enough, tonight I'm at a
party next door and someone spots a floater in the Water of bloody Leith! I had
to go in there and check it; I've only just dried off.'
    'Murder?'
the DCC asked. 'Aye I suppose it must be. Not suicide, anyway. You'd have to be
trying really hard to drown yourself in that stream.'
    'You
could manage it if you were able to tie yourself up in a carpet then hop in.
But this one didn't. Someone had some fun with him before he put him in the
water. Pringle's on his way with a team and we've closed the road around the
area. I've had to empty the downstairs bar of the Hilton Hotel too; it's not
far from the scene, and we don't want an audience.'
    'What
does it look like?'
    'A
gang thing, maybe. Time will tell.'
    'Let
Pringle get on with it then. I'll give him a call tomorrow.' Skinner chuckled.
'Buggered up your Saturday night, eh? Still, it'll have kept you out of
mischief.' In the silence that followed, he heard a female voice say, 'Andy,
are these the jeans you meant?'
    He
laughed again, loud enough to make Sarah throw him a warning frown from the
bedroom doorway. 'Ah, Jeez. I should have known better.'

11
     
     
    Andy
took the tailored Lacoste jeans from Rhian, slid them on, then found a blue
crew-necked sweater in a chest of drawers opposite his bed.
    'I'm
sorry about breaking up the party, or at least about sending everyone off to
the pub,' he told her. 'But I don't think your pals would have appreciated
watching our diver team haul a very dead guy out of the water.'
    'You're
kidding. Some of Margot's friends would have loved that.'
    'In
that case, they're well off out of it.'
    'Can
I watch them? I'm a medical student and would really like to do scene-of-crime
stuff after I qualify.'
    'I
thought you were going to specialise in proctology. Or do you see working with
the police as falling within that field?' She frowned at him for a second, then
grinned as she caught up with his sense of humour. 'Seriously though, the
answer's no. We have a panel of appointed medical examiners and they're not
encouraged to bring students with them.'
    'But
you're Head of CID, aren't you? You could fix it, surely.'
    'I
could,' he agreed as he slipped a pair of walking sandals on to bare feet, 'but
I'm not going to. I'll tell you what I will do though. Sarah Skinner - Bob's
wife - is a pathologist. If she does the post-mortem on this one, I'll ask her
if you can sit in.'

'I've
seen a dissection before.'
    'Maybe,
but you haven't seen Sarah at work on someone fresh from the river. Come on
now, we have to go. Dan Pringle will be here any second.' He ushered her out of
the bedroom, towards the stairs.
    'Can't
I stay here?' she asked. 'You won't be all night, will you?'
    'No,
but ...'
    'Just
this once, please, Andy.'
    He
relented. 'Okay, but tomorrow morning we've got to have a talk about things.'
    She
smiled. 'Who says I'll fancy you tomorrow?' In some ways that might be a relief, he thought. 'How could you not?' he said.
    He
left the house and jogged out of the village, then up and round into Belford
Road towards the bridge. Uniformed officers were on duty on either side,
stopping and diverting traffic and pedestrians. The forecourt and foyer of the
Hilton Hotel was thronged with